320 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 531. 



1 do think, however, that any evidence 

 <'alculated to enhance the importance of 

 pure investigation (that most necessary 

 source of practical results in botany) 

 should be referred to frequently, because 

 there is no use in attempting to conceal the 

 fact that the average man of the world 

 looks -with contempt upon the general sub- 

 ject of scientific research as undertaken in 

 botany and similar fields. That certain 

 so-called scientific investigations carried on 

 in the name of research are far from being 

 in any way a contribution to science must 

 I)e admitted; but so much good work is be- 

 ing done that it is time that we make a 

 little more of an effort to have it receive 

 proper recognition. Perhaps the day will 

 I'ome when research work will appeal to 

 the world upon its merit. Certainly the 

 last ten or fifteen years have seen a great 

 advance in this line, but at present there is 

 no fjuestion but that the best and quickest 

 way to obtain the recognition and reward 

 due to pure botanical research is to show 

 how pi-actical results are obtained by this 

 means, which years of blind groping along 

 applied lines have failed to produce. 



If I may be allowed to take an example 

 or two from my own experience, I will 

 refer to the investigations leading up to the 

 solution of the problem involving the pre- 

 vention of bad odors and tastes in drinking 

 water. This disagreeable effect, due to 

 the growth of alga^, has been one which 

 has baffled the efforts of engineers, chemists 

 and bacteriologists for years. And well 

 it might, for Avhy should a question of this 

 kind, involving the life history of a certain 

 small group of cryptogamic plants, be re- 

 ferred to any other profession than botany 

 for its answer? 



There is not a state in the union which 

 has not reported difficulty from these algal 

 growths, and in some communities the odor 

 and taste during certain months of the year 

 liave rendered the water absolutely unfit 



for use. In a few cases the strong odor 

 has even necessitated the giving up of the 

 use of the water for sprinkling the streets 

 and lawns. One water commission in New 

 England considered the trouble due to 

 algii! of so much importance that they were 

 willing to expend about four million dollars 

 upon devices, by no means certainly effect- 

 ive, in order to try and prevent such diffi- 

 culties. A city in the far west spent over 

 one million dollars securing new sources of 

 supply so that the algal-polluted reservoirs 

 might be abandoned. In the south we have 

 a case where the algte led the local author- 

 ities to take steps to cause the franchise of 

 the water company to be forfeited, on the 

 ground that they were not furnishing a 

 potable water. The company had spent 

 thousands of dollars in mechanical filters 

 and other devices, without results, and 

 there was no alternative but to install a new 

 supply at a cost of double the one already in 

 use. There is no necessity for multiplying 

 examples. Those of you who are familiar 

 with the question of furnishing pure water 

 in this country know how many millions of 

 dollars have been lost owing to the presence 

 of algse in water, to say nothing of the 

 great inconvenience caused by the odor and 

 taste and for which there did not exist an 

 adequate remedy. It is needless to say 

 that a question of so much financial impor- 

 tance has been investigated exhaustively 

 from the so-called practical side, and 

 varioi;s recommendations made, all of little 

 or no effect. Finally,, the difficulty was 

 relegated to the botanists, who took hold of 

 the problem from the purely scientific 

 standpoint and showed how certain plants 

 were the specific cause of the trouble. It 

 was then a comparatively simple matter, by 

 applying the knowledge gained years ago 

 by Naegeli and others in botanical research, 

 to find a remedy for the difficutty. The 

 only wonder is that it was not thought of 

 before. AVithin the last six months the 



